Golden Ale questions questions

[Elderfi]

Hi guys,

Im think about putting a Golden ale down here is what Im going for:

1x Coopers Real ale
1kg of DME
100grms of Crystal malt
Galaxy (since i have about 40grms left)
And im thinking about buying some Amarillo or Cascade to go along
US-05

A couple of questions what should the hop scehdule be? and for example when something reads Xgrms @15 min then Xgrams @ 5 mins does that mean boils for 15 minutes then add another lot for an additional five minutes? Or is boil the wort for 15 minutes then add hops then after five minutes add more??

I have been really impressed doing a pale ale with Be2 and galaxy (see previous thread Pale ale / galaxy), but im super keen to advance my brewing! Im also conisdering doing the above with an APA can instead of real.

Also i found the galaxy to have a very pronounced melon aroma, which I didnt mind one bit but I would like to hit a more crisp citrus note in future

Thanks guys!

 

[bum]

when something reads Xgrms @15 min then Xgrams @ 5 mins does that mean boils for 15 minutes then add another lot for an additional five minutes? Or is boil the wort for 15 minutes then add hops then after five minutes add more??

First lot goes in with 15 minutes left in the boil. Second lot goes in with 5 minutes left in the boil. So the two additions are separated by 10 minutes and overlap by 5.

 

[Elderfi]

Oh ok, so I guess my confusions stems from, how long is the boil? I mean in the above recipe how long should I boil all ingredients for?

 

[NewtownClown]

Don't boil the can of Real Ale...
Boil half your DME in 5 litres of water for your hop schedule
Amarillo will add a nice citrus note

 

[Elderfi]

So just to clarify, throw the can in last. Boil 1/2 DME (and steeped crystal juice?) with the hops schedule then add in fermenter with can and other half of DME. what woudl a good suggetions for hop schedule be?

 

[NewtownClown]

After extracting the "juice", make the hop boil up to 5 litres and add 485 grams of malt extract. This makes a wort of around 1.040 which is a good gravity for hop utilisation.
After the boil, use the liquid to mix the can and remaining malt in the fermenter.

your recipe for 23 litres would give you around 30 IBU without additional bittering hops and an ABV of around 4.3% in the bottle if primed with carb drops. You could add some dex to up the alcohol. Approx every 100 g will add .2% Or use a BE2 and drop the Dry Malt to 500 grams for around 5% and a bit of body (FG 1.013).

Hop schedule is subjective.

For a first timer looking to up the flavour/aroma - I would suggest 20 grams each of amarillo and galaxy for 5 mins.

A boil is generally 60-90 mins to kill bugs, add some color, drive off unwanted compounds - amongst other reasons, when brewing all grain.

For your batch 30 mins should be good

 

[Elderfi]

Wow thanks! sounds like a goer

 

[Elderfi]

Does the crystal add to the ABV? Im really aiming for about 4.5%-5% my first brew I made ended up way to strong (due to a extra kilo of dex added by mistake) and whilst it is drinkable its really not enjoyable!

 

[NewtownClown]

100 gram of crystal adds a little less than .1% in 23 litres...

 

[Elderfi]

Also in terms of beers what is 30IBU, i mean is it as bitter as a Coopers Pale Ale or LCPA? My last pale ale i boiled 15grams of Galaxy for 12 minutes and it delivered on bitterness, which was nice, but very noticeable

 

[NewtownClown]

IBU = International Bittering Units
Cooper's Pale Ale is, from memory. 15-20 IBU
However just how bitter a beer is perceived is relative to how malty that beer is and how much "body" it has i.e. residual (unfermentable) sugars as indicated by the FG.
Most homebrewers refer to bittering units in ratio to gravity units, or BU:GU, to determine the bitterness of a beer.

for example
IBU 50 and OG 1.060 has a ratio of .833
IBU 66 and OG 1.080 has a ratio of .837
the perceived bitterness is, practically, the same

15 g Galaxy for 12 minutes would add about 5-6 IBU in a beer of 1.040. Not much - but really dependent on the FG and OG to determine how much bitterness is perceived in the final product.

 

[RobboMC]

IBU is a measure of how much bitterness has been extracted from the hops. However there is also some sweet residual malt in your finished brew as well. This is the reason hop additions were invented, to balance the sickly sweetness of a malt only beer.

So you could have 30 IBU and masses of malt in a stout and still have a sweet malty taste. Generally as the alcohol content goes up you need more hop to balance the extra malt; and also as the colour darkens as the colour generally comes from malts.

The final taste sensation can be viewed as the difference between the hops and the malts. If you have more hop than malt, you sense bitterness, more malt than hop and you sense sweetness. Getting the right of amount of hop to balance the malts in a recipe; and then adding or subtracting to create the final flavour profile, well that truly is the art ( or luck ) of brewing!

So genarally follow simple recipes for a while until you get the hang of it. 30 IBU in a pale ale is pretty much within the normal range and should be nice to drink. Then you can increase or decrease it next batch to your liking.

If you are after a citris flavour, +1 for Amarillo as suggested and also Cascade is a very nice hop in a pale ale.

 

[NewtownClown]

This is the reason hop additions were invented, to balance the sickly sweetness of a malt only beer.

Not quite, hop additions were discovered as opposed to invented. Prior to the use of hops, beer was bittered with gruit, juniper, dandelion and many other things. The first documented use of hops in beer was sometime in the 10 -11th century in Europe but England took until the late 16th century to be widely used...
but we digress

 

[manson81]

I made this a couple months ago, and can I tell you, it was Damn near spot on identical to the squires golden ale. I was impressed!

http://brewerschoice.com.au/brewers-choice-golden-ale/

 

[yum beer]

Try Dr Smurto's Golden Ale, top of the list in the recipe section.
Bloody good drop.

 

[manson81]

The dr smurtos extract golden ale is next in my brew calendar. I've stopped doing kits now and only doing full extract (have now done a fat yak and a little creatures) and Smurtos golden ale sounds awesome!

 

[Elderfi]

If doing the full extract version, it says " If doing full extract, replace the can of Sparkling Ale with a can of unhopped light malt extract. Add a 60 min bittering addition of 20g of Amarillo." I would lean to wards this as it would be the cheaper of the two options.

If the boil time "60min bittering addition" I read that as once boiling add hops for the whole 60 mins? Also what exactly is in the boil here? just the 250 grms of crystal/caramalt? or the both can of of extract? one can of extract?

Are there other extract recipies? Also is there anything beyond the normal sanitation that I should be aware of when doing an extract?

 

[Alex.Tas]

If the boil time "60min bittering addition" I read that as once boiling add hops for the whole 60 mins? Also what exactly is in the boil here? just the 250 grms of crystal/caramalt? or the both can of of extract? one can of extract?

yep, the 20g of hops will be boiled for 60 minutes. then with 15 minutes to go (after 45 minutes) add in 15 grams more of amarillo. then with 5 min to go drop in another 15g. The final 15 grams would be thrown into the fermenter (either loose or in a hop bag/new stocking) after 3-4 days.
As far as what is in the boil, you will need to steep the 250 grams of grain in at least 1L of water at 65-70 degrees for 30 minutes. Maybe a bit longer if you cant keep the liquid at that temp. A thermos works well here if you have one big enough.
Then strain the liquid into a bigger pot. probably the biggest you have.
The aim here is to boil the hops in as large amount of water as possible. typically I use a pot about 7-8L. but to get the most out of the hops, you need to raise the gravity a little bit (by adding more sugar) - somebody please correct me if i'm wrong here.
So for me, i top the water in the large pot up to 8L and then add around 900g of one of your liquid malt tins.
Get that stuff dissolved and then boil it. then add your first 20g of hops and start your timer.

So simply your boil is 7 or so litres of water, 1L of crystal grain juice (strained) and about 900 grams of liquid malt extract.

 

[Rocker1986]

You could add some dex to up the alcohol. Approx every 100 g will add .2%

:icon_offtopic: a bit.. but if this is the case, then why do we add 0.5% for priming sugar? You'd have to be adding 250g for a full batch to get that much based on those numbers. Personally I don't add that much, it's usually 0.3% or 0.4% depending on how many volumes I go for. Most batches 0.3.

 

[technobabble66]

+1 for Alex.Tas

Ideally, you want to try to boil your hops in liquid/wort with an OG ~ 1.040. This will optimise the extraction of the hops acids & oils (generally speaking).

So to get it to that, as AT suggested:
Use 1L to steep your 250g Crystal for 20-60min. (I prefer ~65°C for this, others like diff temps). Drain this liquid into your big pot.
Fill your big pot up to 7L.
Add 900g DME, or about 1kg of your tin/LME into the big pot.
This should produce close to OG 1040 in 7L

Bring this to a rolling boil (while stirring!)
Add first addition of hops & start timer (that's the 60min addition, of course h34r: )

Oh, word of caution - the LME has a tendency to sit on the bottom of the pot to start with, so make sure you take it off the heat when you add the tin, & you stir constantly until it's mixed in while you are heating the 7L. Burnt sugar on the bottom of the pot does not add desirable flavours to the beers, just to clarify . Also, if using DME in particular, my experience is it can boil over very easily & quickly. So keep a close eye on it between starting to simmer & the 1st hops addition.
Apologies if you're already familiar with this. It's just that is really disappointing to get a burnt pot or boil-over in the first few minutes of a brew day.
PS: DrS's GA is a great general recipe - it's a fantastic reference of a midpoint in malt & hops flavour/usage. Very well balanced beer that you can then start experimenting from.